1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scene classification apparatus for analyzing uncompressed or compressed video and classifying them into various types of scenes, and particularly relates to a scene classification apparatus for enabling efficient searching and classifying of, and access to the video.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a prior technique relating to the scene classification of video, for example, a system for inputting video of television broadcasting and classifying them by comparatively large units such as news, sports and commercial is suggested. After not only characteristics of the video but also characteristics of audio data accompanied by the video are taken into consideration, a scene classification method is suggested. As to detection of a highlight scene as summary information, a technique for extracting a highlight scene of a sports video in a compressed domain of the compressed video using the audio characteristics accompanied by the data is suggested.
In most of the prior techniques, mainly the video and the audio data accompanied by them are analyzed in an uncompressed data domain, and thus compressed video should be once subject to a decoding process. There, therefore, arises a problem that high processing costs and much processing time are necessary. Since a unit of the scene classification is mainly comparatively large, a scene classification technique according to a more detailed unit is not established. The classification by a detailed unit is important and effective, for example, in viewing a specified scene in video and classifying in a video database.
In a highlight scene extracting method using the conventional audio characteristics, since a peak level of audio data is evaluated, if a plurality of peaks exist in a certain short time interval, an overlapped interval may be extracted as the highlight scene. Since a commercial in television broadcasting occasionally has a comparatively high audio level, the commercial may be misdecided as the highlight scene.